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What Goofy USB Devices Have You Found?
pluckyduck asks: "What's the goofiest USB device out there? The links below are by no means an endorsement of the company, just links to goofy USB devices to illustrate my point. The first one is not really a USB device, but a wall adapter in case you want to power your USB Coffee Mug Warmer from a wall outlet (hey, there's a concept!). I believe they also have an auto adapter should you feel the need to run your USB air purifier in the car. The latest PC I bought only has 6 USB ports, I'll need to buy a hub soon!" Yes, they even have USB Massage Balls, as well. Although goofy, some of this stuff could be useful in the right situation. What off the wall USB devices have you found? How might you use some of the devices, that have been listed?
I only it for massaging my wrist, I swear!
Of my favourite two (which I have), they include a USB based battery recharger so I can recharge the batteries in my logitech RF mouse (sorry, cant find a link) and the USB Mobile Phone Charger.
Now, on the goofy side, nothing beats the PC 12V Cigarette Lighter Panel. Okay, it's not USB but it's still insane. I want one just so I can put a 'non-smoker' button in it.
Robert Anton Wilson
A USB Massage Ball sounds pretty dang-dingitty close to a teledildonic. A good STD-free way to share your goofiness! Next: a USB massage, er, tube?
How about the USB light? Pretty mundane, but it still seems pretty whacky ...
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
An electric USB toothbrush JPG
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
For those of you who might have burned your penis on your laptop, cool it down!
If you are a mobile traveler like me, it's one less thing to pack when your toothbrush is USB powered!
Or while you are brushing your teeth, you can find time to make some noodles or whatever the hell this thing does.
And one last one to make soup with I guess.
A co-worker of mine is kind of a USB nut:
USB Vibe by Grandtec USA is a USB powered personal massager that I got from Compusa last month for 10$. No it isnt computer controlled. It is a disk 3 1/2" in diameter with a blue plastic hemisphere section covered with bumps. I havent taken it out of the package which claims "Makes sitting at your computer a pleasure!". It claims to oscilate at 60 vibrations per second. It might be great to have one as a female and put this thing on your pleasure center, maybe while your working on the airplane on your laptop and have the passenger next to you ask whats that loud humming coming from. Probably just as much fun going through security checkpoints!
I dont do meaning of life questions.
If you were a cs major, I'd have to lecture you on trying google first...... beings you're into E. Here's the link.
Just for you.
Yep, I never spell check.
More incorrect spellings can be found he
The Hubzilla was always one of my favorites. This one's Firewire, but worth it for a laugh.
"I'll say it again for the logic-impaired." -- Larry Wall.
The japanese version of Rez has a USB TRANCE VIBRATOR. If only there were drivers for MacOS, or Linux.
Surely the USB adapter to let you run your USB coffee warmer on house current is the last thing you'd call an "off the wall" USB product.
I work at a RadioShack store in Canada, and at the fall dealers' conference they gave out these silly USB fans to all the attendants.
Standing at the very edge of my imagination, I peered into the inky void and realised -- I couldn't think up a new sig.
...because they go faster....
My roommate has a USB Homer Simpson.
The Homer Simpson Dot Pal would make comments, such as when the Microsoft Word spellchecker detects a typo.
Anyone else catch that on the USB massage ball page? What kind of philosophy is driving that company, are they good or evil or beyond both?
I Hail our new USB massage ball overlords!
Please, IF I'm at work expecting to relieve myself, "after several pressure-filled hours in your chair..." there better be a god damn local brothel where I can bring a company christmas bonus discount card. Who the fuck do these capitalists think comprise the majority of their technological and scientific workforce? Are we mere slaves to them?
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Yes! I have on my desk next to me a dinky little pcb with an ftdi usb chip on - the FT245BM. This chip has an 8 bit parallel data bus for IO and a number of control lines and is very easy to use.
:)
On the PC side, ftdi provide "virtual com port" drivers for windows, so the new device appears to the OS as a serial port making it very easy to interface to.
Linux has appropriate driver support in the standard kernel as well (since 2.4 I think).
Bill of materials for this PCB (caveat - one of my colleagues made it), ftdi chip, crystal osc, eprom (for holding device id and similar), 8 res, 8 cap, 1 transistor, 2x10 header, USB B socket. The whole thing is 3cm x 6cm.
ftdi also make a similar chip which has a serial input and can be used as a drop in replacement for an RS232 transceiver.
See http://www.ftdichip.com/
I don't work for ftdi, I just really like their product
Cheers,
Roger
Do you have any better hostages?
All of this crap is just some electrial device that pulls power off of the USB bus. Most do not even let the host OS know they exist and if you use them you risk blowing your USB ports (usually on your motherboard) with excessive current draw. I'd imagine that coffee warmer thing is pulling at least 1A, double the maximum of a USB peripheral, but probably OK if the other USB device you've got plugged in is a mouse or something.. The point is, this stuff might as well plug into a PS2 port or parallel port since you can get just as much 5V current out of them!
I wouldn't call it an interesting USB device unless it actually talks to software on the host computer.
Why doesn't some manufacturer make a laptop that can be charged via USB?
I first thought of this when in a meeting. The laptop of the guy next to me was running out of juice - I had two batteries in mine and plenty of power, but there was no way to move the power the 15 inches from my machine to his.
Think of the possibilities: no more carrying a fat, proprietary power brick around to charge your laptop - just slip a USB cable in your pocket and pull some power from your desktop machine (or a friend's, or a stranger's, or the local library's). No USB port handy? Grab one of the $15 USB power jacks in the original post, and you're all set.
Probably won't ever happen, though - too much damage to the 'laptop power brick' sector of the economy...
Delcom Engineering makes some cool USB-controlled lights, buttons, and numeric LED displays.
Thinkgeek also has a USB volume knob.
Blissbox has USB-powered vibrators. No "massage balls" etc... just down-and-dirty good ol' toys. All I can say is... yummy. :)
What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.